Sing for me
by The Deadly Nadder
Summary: "Now, sing," she whispers into my ear, "Sing for me." I shake my head no, trying to look defying, but way too fast I end up looking terrified when Gothel gets her dagger out and places it under my throat. "Sing." She orders again and that time, I can't see any way to escape so I take a breath, and sing. -Alternative ending to Tangled-
1. Eugene

_**Hello there guys! This is a short 2 chapters fanfiction, an alternative ending to Tangled.**_

 _ **!Spoilers! You need to have seen the movie.**_

 _ **I hope you will like it. Reviews are welcome :D**_

 ** _A special thank you to cashewkitty, my beta-reader._**

* * *

 **1\. Eugene**

"Just let me heal him."

Her words resound in my head as she comes closer to me, leans upon me and lifts my head up. I wish I could shout at her to run away and leave me here, but I don't have enough strength. And anyway, she seems so determined that I doubt she would listen. She puts her long hair on my body, wipes away her wet cheeks, and then for a moment she remains silent, she doesn't move, so I open my eyelids slightly to see her. She has her eyes closed, she concentrates. She's going to sing. She's going to heal me. And then…

She's giving herself up to save me. She's choosing to live the rest of her life as a slave of that horrible witch, to save mine. I can't believe it. I can't manage to understand. She likes her new-found freedom so much, she'll never bear staying locked up one more day. She'll die of insanity, if she doesn't commit suicide before that. She has to run away, all this has to stop, she has to…

Her hair. All of this for her hair. She has to cut her hair, to remove any power from herself. Then she won't be useful to Gothel anymore, and the old woman will let her go.

No. She certainly won't. She'll kill her. I have to protect her. But I can't right now, I'm too weak. Unless…

"Flower gleam and glow…"

Rapunzel starts singing. I force myself to open my eyes. I have to find a way to make her understand what I plan to do. It could work. It has to work. I'm sure it's possible.

"Let your power shine…"

I'm trying to meet her gaze but my sight is blurred and my eyelids are closing themselves. I don't want to talk, I can't control my voice and I would need to speak up to make myself heard and it would be too much of a risk since the witch is looking at us suspiciously and Rapunzel doesn't have much time left.

"Make the clock reverse…"

So I say nothing. I just discreetly let my hand slip to a piece of the broken mirror. The biggest one I can reach. The sharpest. I press my finger against its edge. The pain is here, I can sense the blade getting through my skin.

"Bring back what once was mine…"

I have to be quick and precise. The volume of hair to be cut doesn't help. One single remaining lock could make everything fail. I should be able to catch all of her hair in my hand. I only hope the mirror is sharp enough to allow me to be quick. But if Rapunzel has healed me in the meantime, I will normally have enough energy.

"Heal what has been hurt…"

The entirety of her hair is glowing now. A weird sensation runs through my abdomen, and I can't feel the bottom part of my body anymore. I concentrate on my arms, on my hold on the piece of mirror, on the most efficient movement. I have to stretch the hair as much as possible. Rapunzel has to follow me and stop her head from leaning backwards.

"Change the Fates' design…."

I manage to keep my eyes open. I give a quick look at Gothel and start when I see that she's come closer. She's gazing at Rapunzel like a hunter gazes at their prey, ready to grab her as soon as she's done singing. It makes it even more complicated for me. I close my eyes again, hoping that Gothel hasn't noticed anything, and try to look weaker than I really am.

"Save what has been lost…"

Rapunzel keeps singing. She has her eyes closed in concentration and doesn't seem to know that Gothel has gotten closer.

"Bring back what once was mine…"

I can feel something moving at my right side, I half-open my eyelids and turn my head, and notice that Gothel is almost directly above me. She has her arm up above her head, brandishing an object I can't see but I immediately guess is supposed to knock me out. I abruptly sit back up, while Rapunzel is pronouncing the last words of her song. She opens her eyes and seems panicked as soon as she realizes what's going on.

"DON'T MOVE!" I shout as I wrap my arms around her.

She remains motionless but I don't know if it's because she listened to me or because she's petrified. At the same time, Gothel violently brings down her arm, but misses my head by a few inches, since she wasn't expecting me to sit up so quickly. While she realizes what has happened, I grab Rapunzel's hair, pull it and pray for her neck to stay hard, and firmly bring back up the piece of broken mirror.

It goes easier than I expected; I can feel the tension leaving the hair I'm holding in my hand as the blades goes up. Rapunzel isn't breathing anymore, I think she knows what I'm doing. For a second I consider the fact that she has lived her whole life with her hair and that I'm violently taking it from her, but really, it's for the better and I have no regrets.

When the piece of mirror goes through the whole hair, and the long locks turning to brown fall on the floor, I see that there are still some blonde locks of hair on her head. I'm about to grab them when I realize, too late, that Gothel is still here, and doesn't appreciate at all what I'm doing.

A moment later, something hits my neck, an intense pain runs along my back, and everything goes dark.


	2. Rapunzel

**2\. Rapunzel**

He collapses on the floor, unconscious, and Gothel raises her head, looking cruelly satisfied. I run my hand through my hair; there's nothing left, my head is so light, nothing except a few blonde locks on the front part, the ones Eugene didn't manage to catch. And Gothel wants these locks more than anything else.

I stand up and take a step back, but the motion is cut off abruptly by a sharp pain in my foot and my pained moan. I immediately bend down and pick up the piece of mirror, grab a lock of hair and cut it. I watch it turn brown and reach for the last remaining strand when Gothel jumps on me and smashes me into the ground.

I open my eyes wide, staring at her face, her skin is wrinkled, creased, greyish, her hair has gone white and her teeth have gone. Apparently her life depends on this very last strand of blonde hair, but Gothel still has a lot of strength, way too much for an old lady, and I can't move.

"I got you, little flower." She enunciates. "You won't get away from me."

As I'm trying to find a way to get out of this mess, I suddenly think of Eugene, and pray for him to wake up. I take a look behind Gothel but it's too dark and I can't see a thing.

"Now, sing," she whispers into my ear, "Sing for me."

I shake my head no, trying to look defying, but way too fast I end up looking terrified when Gothel gets her dagger out and places it under my throat.  
"I can't sing if you're pressing my throat." I point out.

She considers it for a moment, and then loosens her hold. I take advantage of the situation to free one of my arms, I try to punch her in the face and catch her weapon, but she grabs my wrist and I end up in the same situation as before.

"Sing." She orders again and that time, I can't see any way to escape so I take a breath, and sing.

My last blonde strand lights up, Gothel grabs it and rubs it between her hands, I can see her wrinkles dimming, slowly, but her hair remains white and her skin greyish.

"Sing louder." She says, tightening her hold on my wrists.

I strive to do so, but fear is overwhelming me, my whole body is shaking and I feel really weak.

"That's enough for now." She decides when the song finally ends. "You'll come with me and stand still. And to avoid any incident…"

She doesn't finish her sentence, lies across my chest and presses my shoulders on the ground. And gets her dagger out.

I am definitely panicking when I understand what she plans to do, I don't know what to cling to anymore, and for the first time I catch myself thinking about death as a solution.

But then I see him, in the darkness, he stands up with pained motions, trying to be quiet, and I know we still have a chance to survive. I scream "NO, MOTHER, PLEASE, DON'T DO THAT!" to allow Eugene to come closer without being noticed.

I struggle with what little strength I have left, Gothel ignores my complaints and soon the dagger presses against the bones in my hand, pierces the thin skin of my fingers, and as she keeps pressing it, an awful pain starts to run through my whole hand.

And then Eugene is here, wrapping his arms around Gothel's chest and before she knows what's happening, he's stabbed her with the piece of mirror, in her abdomen, once, twice, three times; blood soaks her clothes and she collapses on me, unconscious.

Eugene immediately removes her body, takes her dagger and uses it to cut her throat, to be sure, I guess. Then he wipes the weapon on Gothel's long cloak, and slowly comes closer to me.

"It's over, Rapunzel. I'm here, everything's fine."

My muscles finally relax, and I manage to bring my arms back against me. Tears start to roll on my cheeks while Eugene tears a piece of cloth off his shirt to wrap my bleeding hand. Once he's done with the bandage, he sits next to me and wraps his arm around my back to hold me against him. I let myself go against his chest and cry, exhausted and shocked but relieved. He gently rocks me, and my sobs eventually calm down.

After a while, I lean away from him, and slowly remove the bandage from my hand. The bleeding has calmed downed, but the cut is really deep.

"Stop, what are you doing?" Eugene asks.

"One last time. " I answer. "One last time, and I cut it all."

He seems to understand, and lets me act. I put the cloth soaked with blood beside me, and roll my last blonde lock of hair around my fingers. Then, I take a deep breath, and start singing.

"Flower gleam and glow…"

But my voice breaks, tears flow again, and my hair doesn't even have time to light up.

I can't do it anymore. I can't stand it. It's too difficult, I want to end this, I don't want to hear this song ever again.

I bury my head in my hands and let myself fall against Eugene. I feel so weak. He strokes my hair, slowly, and I close my eyes.

"Flower gleam and glow…"

Eugene shyly sings with his deep voice. For me. Even though he hates singing.

"Let your power shine…"

He has a really nice voice. I pray that he knows the lyrics until the end, and remain quiet.

"Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine."

"You have to touch my hair, otherwise it won't work." I whisper.

He takes the hair between his fingers, and keeps singing.

"Heal what has been hurt, change the fates' design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine."

He pauses. Behind my eyelids, I can sense the light crossing my hair for the last time ever. I don't even feel a slight piece of regret.

"What once was mine."

A wave of heat runs in my fingers. The light goes out. I slowly move my hand. It doesn't hurt anymore. Eugene gives me the dagger. I grab it, my hair in the other hand, and cut it without any hesitation.

"There you go." Eugene says.

I nod slowly, and then nestle back against him and close my eyes. Eugene puts his hand on my cheek and gently strokes it. I put my hand on his, and feel his face leaning over mine. I open my eyes, wrap my hand around his neck, and draw him to me. Our lips meet, almost naturally.

Then I know everything will be okay.


End file.
